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"We do this every chance we get," the Bedford resident said as he worked on the car in the Lawrence County 4-H Fairgrounds demolition derby pit area.

Stinson had some help with his old Mercury Cougar - or what was left of it. Another Bedford resident, Randy Hobson, was pitching in while waiting for his car, an old Lincoln Town Car, to arrive. And Robert Pemberton served as mechanic on the cars he helped acquire.

Demolition derby photo gallery

"I work at Bedford Recycling," Pemberton said. "That's where I got the cars at." Bedford Recycling and Cap Trucking also agreed to sponsor the entries.

About a dozen cars entered the derby. Many, like Stinson's and Hobson's, were refugees from scrap heaps and junkyards.

That was OK with Rita Eaglin, as long as the cars were safe. And an inspector was making the rounds to check bumpers and frames, fire extinguishers and helmets. (The wire Stinson was installing, for example, is a required safety feature.)

Eaglin and her husband, Terry, own T.E. Promotions Inc., a Versailles-based company that bills itself as "King of the Derbies."

"We do all sorts of motor sports events," she said while standing outside the demolition derby gate. "We've been here the last five years, I'd say.

"We put on (derbies at) like 30 to 40 fairs, so a lot of the guys will follow us around. And we get a lot of county participants, too."

Drivers like Stinson say they enjoy the sport. But there's a little something extra at the end for the winner, Eaglin said.

At Sunday's derby, for example, the winner could take home $1,000 to go with his trophy.

Deeper into the pit area, Matt Fannin of Brown County was working on his entry - a 1974 Cadillac that had been fetched out of a junkyard in Johnson County.

"This is only the second derby for it, though," he said.

Like Stinson, Fannin was putting some wire to work, weaving several loops through holes in had been the trunk and around the bank bumper.

"So it won't get underneath and catch my tires," he said.

And, like Stinson, Fannin was smiling through some sweat.

"It's fun," he said.